From VICE:
In 1963, in the midst of the heated debate over the desegregation of American schools, the University of Alabama announced that it would for the first time allow African Americans to enroll. Fifty years later, in September 2013, two University of Alabama sororities rejected an African American student because of her race. As a result, an anti-racist student group called the Mallet Assembly and other members of the community took action to prevent segregation within the university's Greek system.
And here's Alabama's recent President, Robert Witt:
Approximately 25 percent of our student body participates in the greek system at UA. [This] includes traditionally African-American, traditionally white and multicultural sororities and fraternities. As independent social organizations, it is appropriate that all our sororities and fraternities – traditionally African-American, traditionally white and multicultural – determine their membership.
The University offers a wide range of options for students to become involved on campus. I encourage all students to take advantage of the many academic, social and volunteer opportunities available at the University during their time on campus.
Remember the firestorm when E. Gordon Gee made some off-color, off-the-record remarks? Witt was very on-the-record with this statement, and even more incredulously, wasn't joking. Not only was he not fired, he was promoted to chancellor of the University of Alabama system. It's verrrrry slightly better under the new President, but this situation in Alabama is as ridiculous as it is disgusting, and actually has real-life consequences.
Vice gets its fair share of well-deserved flak, but hidden amongst the OMG ISN'T THIS CRAZY puff pieces, is quality stuff like the video above.
And before anybody attempts to defend this: no.
